O'DONNELL COLUMN

In his Jan. 16 column, Mr. O'Donnell has displayed the standard liberal world view that myopically looks at statements from the right side of the political spectrum as evil and ignores the equivalent statements on the left, such as the president telling supporters to "get in the faces" of his opponents, referring to those who oppose his ultraleftist agenda as the enemy (I believe Obama is the first president ever to refer to an entire segment of the American populace as "enemies" ), and jokes about the use of predator drones against potential suitors to his daughters.

There are SO many examples of this, but, in putting forth the DNC talking points like a good little Obama-bot , Michael ignores these. Why? So he can indirectly blame his enemies , conservative Americans , for the despicable acts of one crazed gunman, thereby marginalizing their agenda to bring this country back to a constitutional republic instead of the socialist totalitarian state the left espouses.

Look at the facts --first, the gunman is known as a liberal whose favorite literary work was the "Communist Manifesto," not on the preferred reading list of the Tea Party group. He was known to listen to heavy metal stations, which doesn't fit the profile of conservative talk radio listeners, so he probably was not among Rush's or Glenn's listeners. If he did listen to any talk radio, with his political views he would be much more likely to be among the two dozen or so people who listen to NPR. So where did he get his violent tendencies? Gee --just take a second to review what most kids are and have been doing for entertainment for the last couple decades.

We'll start with (liberal) Hollywood --with the great special effects movies today are more violent than ever. Does this have an effect on people with a few cards short of a full deck? Of course. Then take a look at what shows are on cable or satellite TV --more of the same. Finally, has anyone tried some of the first-person shooter games on the various gaming systems or on the Internet? Very impressive.

In fact, they are used by the military to train soldiers because they are so realistic. Ever notice how many of the recent shootings (including the Arizona tragedy ) involved shots to the head? Extra points. These factors swamp out any political speech kids might chance to hear.

So Michael --before you go off half-cocked to push your extreme partisan views, back off and take a broader view. Get off the Move On Web site and think before you blame. Good grief --even Jodeane Albright has been circumspect and has not tried to exploit this tragedy for leftist political fodder.

George Swenson,

Pocatello